The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 25 - April 25

 

Day 25

Endanger

1 Corinthians 15:30-31 (NIV)

And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour?  I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Imperil, jeopardize, threaten, expose....these are all synonyms for endanger.  Again Paul is questioning why a person should endanger themselves for a cause, if there is no reward for doing so.  In this case, the reward is to be resurrected.  And he follows it up with an oath that he is willing to face death every day as he defends the gospel and the proof of resurrection.  He is even willing to go so far as to boast about the Corinthians who are believers in Jesus Christ.  Yesterday we saw that one of the incentives that Paul claims for belief in the resurrection is assurance.  Today and tomorrow's verses gives us the incentive of salvation.  And his glory, his boasting, was in the fact that he was seeing the Corinthians professing their faith in Jesus Christ.  They were becoming Christians.  Paul was seeing the conversion of people and the establishment of churches.  The danger he was enduring was not in vain.

Most of us can say that we do not endanger ourselves physically every day because of our belief -- our Christianity --  as Paul did.  But we can question how we can put aside our previous lives, our old self, to become more like Christ.

• Every day consider the certainty of death. 
• Every day put your soul, your faith, through the process of death. 
• Every day hold onto your earthly life with an loose hand. 
• Every day test your hope and your experience. 
• Every day come to the cross of Jesus Christ professing that you are a sinner and ask for forgiveness. 
• Every day live your life not ashamed that you believe in Jesus Christ.

Several songs come to mind. As you read the list above, listen to each of these songs after the appropriate item. 

• "Where I Belong" by Building 429 reminds us not hold onto this life, but to "take this world and give (us) Jesus, (because) this is not where (we) belong."
• "I Come To the Cross" reminds us that  "(We) come to the cross seeking mercy and grace, (we) come to the cross where You died in (our) place.  Out of (our) weakness and into Your strength, humbly, (we) come to the cross."
• "I'm Not Ashamed" by the Newsboys tells us "(We're) not ashamed to let you know (we) want this light in (us) to show.  (We're) not ashamed to speak the name of Jesus Christ."